About Miss Riiko (She/Her)

Riiko Kitayama was born in Japan, began ballet at age three, and at fourteen left Japan to study at Quinte Ballet School of Canada. Since graduating in 2008, Riiko has performed with Columbus Dance Theater, Columbia Classical Ballet, Nashville Ballet 2, Mystic Ballet, and Roxey Ballet. She joined Zest Collective in 2015. In 2014 she was a guest soloist with the ADMAN Chamber Orchestra in Japan. Her performance with ADMAN was written in the leading national newspaper in Japan, the Japan Daily News. In 2015 Riiko was interviewed by the newspaper the New York Times during the production of Roxey Ballet’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula. In 2017, she performed with Roxey Ballet as Cupid in Carmina Burana with Princeton Pro Musica at Princeton University. In the same year, she performed with Zest Collective entertaining at the Danone Nations Cup World Final. Her ballet photos taken by photographer Juan C. Irizarry was chosen from the Broadway Dance Magazine. Riiko performed as a soloist as Snow Queen, Dewdrop, and Clara in The Nutcracker, Princess Florine in Sleeping Beauty, and Pas de Trois in Swan Lake. Riiko is ABT certified on all levels.